Lighter side: Toronto real estate hits new level of absurd

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Although rent control appears to be here to stay, a new report proposes meeting halfway with a rolling exemption of 10 to 15 years, before reintroducing rent control for the same period of time, and then scaling it back again

“Right now all the houses are $1.1 million to, say, $2.2 [million] but they’re looking at putting in places that are only $500,000.”

Goodwin is one of about 50 neighbours on Keewatin Ave., near Mt. Pleasant and Eglington Ave. East, who are fighting back against a proposed 80-unit townhouse building planned for their street.

“We’re not against development,” Marcia Visser, founder of the Density Creep Neighborhood Alliance told the Star.

“We’re just for planned development that enriches our neighbourhood and maintains and reinforces the physical character of our neighbourhood.”

According to the Star, Visser is “concerned about privacy traffic and an influx of transient people.”

Analysts have questioned the validity of that second concern, considering “transients” (a synonym for hobos, vagrants and vagabonds) are often unable to win mortgages on $500,000 homes.

Still, according to a Ryerson urban planning professor, the disputed development trend is here to stay.

“The simple fact of the matter is that the creation of a more sustainable, equitable, and affordable city requires the development of midrise and other more-dense housing options along major roads, subways, and streetcar lines in already built up areas,” Christopher De Sousa, director of the School of Urban Planning and Regional Planning at Ryerson University told the Toronto Star.

“This is a typical story in Toronto and communities just have to know it’s coming.”

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